Mayoral challenger Hall to air new TV ad

Top mayoral challenger Ben Hall’s campaign held a news conference today to herald the release of the campaign’s second TV ad, to hit the airwaves Thursday.

Hall’s first ad buy in early August cost more than $500,000 and ran for six days on multiple channels. Campaign press secretary Julia Smekalina did not disclose how long this second round would run or its purchase price, but said it would run for “several days.” The Hall campaign also on Wednesday launched an attack site, to match the attack site incumbent Annise Parker’s campaign has had up for a while. Enjoy the awkward pictures of both candidates.

Hall’s new ad targets Parker, citing her “millionaire” status and pointing to several “ethical violations.” Here’s the 30-second spot:

Smekalina said the ad is the first step in the Hall’s campaign’s new effort to educate voters about the dark spots in Parker’s record.

“The more we talk to voters the more we realize that they actually don’t know the truth about her tenure, they don’t know the criticism she’s faced, the mistakes she’s made, the promises she’s broken, and the secrets she’s swept under the rug,” she said. “Starting today, you have our commitment that we’ll make sure voters know about these things.”

Parker

The Parker campaign disputes the idea that the incumbent is a millionaire. I did some calculations on this (though note my lone math credit in college was satisfied by a geology class). My math puts Parker’s share of properties (her home, her partner’s office, and multiple properties a partnership she belongs to owns) at $902,600, not counting a few parcels I couldn’t find online (such as unimproved tracts in Nacogdoches and South Padre Shore, one in Galveston County and one in Old Sixth Ward that doesn’t come up in HCAD).

In its calculation of Parker’s wealth at $1.2 million, the Hall campaign included not only $45,892 in stocks (which could be as high as $250,000; financial disclosure forms include ranges), but also $35,500 in rental income and Parker’s $210,000 annual salary. Net worth calculators exclude rental income and annual salary, however, and net worth also is calculated including a person’s debts, such as a mortgage. The Parker campaign said the mayor and her partner carry two mortgages on their home, of which Parker’s share is $274,417.

Thus, Parker’s assets fall between roughly $950,000 and $1.16 million. Subtract known debts and her net worth falls between roughly $675,000 and $885,000. That doesn’t include assets like cars, art, collectibles, jewelry, furnishings, retirement accounts and cash, or liabilities such as credit card debts or auto loans, which also would be included in net worth.

The point stands, Smekalina said.

“She, prior to being elected, was not worth that much,” she said. “It’s our opinion that over the course of someone’s time in public office, when you’re working off of the taxpayers, you should not be accumulating that dramatic personal wealth.”

Parker spokeswoman Sue Davis had a different take.

“(Hall) is claiming she’s enriched herself while in office, and that’s just not true,” she said. “Mr. Hall claims to have added up Annise Parker’s net worth but he left out half a million dollars in home mortgages. Either he’s lying or he’s as bad at finances as he is at paying his own taxes.”

As for ethics violations, the Texas Ethics Commission complaints list registers Parker’s name three times one, two, three) in her tenure as a City Council member, City Controller and as mayor. The civil fines from the three complaints total $400.

“In 16 years of campaign reports, the campaign has made honest, minor mistakes, as all campaigns do, and corrected them as soon as they were found,” Davis said. “The amounts total a tiny fraction of the funds raised over those years.”

One Response

I have known Annise since she was an undergraduate at Rice University. She and Kathy do well and can afford to raise their children in comfort in a really nice Montrose historic home but they are not billionaires and I also know Ben and can report he has done more than well and will never recover the $$$ he is wasting on this election but he ego will be well fed….